Evaluating the quality of a set of modelling languages used in combination: A method and a tool

[EN] Modelling languages have proved to be an effective tool to specify and analyse various perspectives of enterprises and information systems. In addition to modelling language designs, works on model quality and modelling language quality evaluation have contributed to the maturity of the model-driven engineering (MDE) field. Although consolidated knowledge on quality evaluation is still relevant to this scenario, in previous works, we have identified misalignments between the topics that academia is addressing and the needs of industry in applying MDE, thus identifying some remaining challenges. In this paper, we focus on the need for a method to evaluate the quality of a set of modelling languages used in combination within a MDE environment. This paper presents MMQEF (Multiple Modelling language Quality Evaluation Framework), describing its foundations, presenting its method components and discussing its trade-offs. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This work was supported by COLCIENCIAS (Colombia) (grant 512, 2010); the European Commision FP7 Project CaaS (611351).Giraldo-Velásquez, FD.; España Cubillo, S.; Giraldo, WJ.; Pastor López, O. (2018). Evaluating the quality of a set of modelling languages used in combination: A method and a tool. Information Systems. 77:48-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.is.2018.06.002S48707

Designing the Didactic Strategy Modeling Language (DSML) From PoN: An Activity Oriented EML Proposal

[EN] This paper presents the design of the didactic strategy modeling language (DSML) according to the principles of Physics of Notations (PoN). The DSML is a visual and activity-oriented language for learning design characterized by the representation of different activities according to the nature of the task. Once the language is designed, a blind interpretation study is conducted to validate the semantic transparency of the learning activity iconography. The results of the paper allow to refine the icons. In addition to this, an authoring tool for DSML, which is integrated to an LMS, is presented. As a result, a model driven course was designed as a DSML pre-validation.Ruiz, A.; Panach Navarrete, JI.; Pastor López, O.; Giraldo-Velásquez, FD.; Arciniegas, JL.; Giraldo, WJ. (2018). Designing the Didactic Strategy Modeling Language (DSML) From PoN: An Activity Oriented EML Proposal. IEEE-RITA: Latin-American Learning Technologies Journal. 13(4):136-143. https://doi.org/10.1109/RITA.2018.2879262S13614313

Integrating technical debt into MDE

The main goal of this work is to evaluate the feasibility to calculate the technical debt (a traditional software quality approach) in a model-driven context through the same tools used by software deve- lopers at work. The SonarQube tool was used, so that the quality check was performed directly on projects created with Eclipse Modeling Frame- work (EMF) instead of traditionals source code projects. In this work, XML was used as the model speci cation language to verify in Sonar- Qube due to the creation of EMF metamodels in XMI (XML Metadata Interchange) and that SonarQube o ers a plugin to assess the XML lan- guage. After this, our work focused on the de nition of model rules as an XSD schema (XML Schema De nition) and the integration between EMF-SonarQube in order that these metrics were directly validated by SonarQube; and subsequently, this tool determined the technical debt that the analyzed EMF models could containF. G, thanks to Colciencias (Colombia) for funding this work through the Colciencias Grant call 512-2010. This work has been supported by the Spanish MICINN PROS-Req (TIN2010-19130-C02-02), the Generalitat Valenciana Project ORCA (PROMETEO/2009/015), the European Commission FP7 Project CaaS (611351), and ERDF structural funds.Giraldo Velásquez, FD.; España Cubillo, S.; Pineda, MA.; Giraldo, WJ.; Pastor López, O. (2014). Integrating technical debt into MDE. CEUR Workshop Proceedings. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/68278

Fundamental differences between SPH and grid methods

We have carried out a hydrodynamical code comparison study of interacting multiphase fluids. The two commonly used techniques of grid and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) show striking differences in their ability to model processes that are fundamentally important across many areas of astrophysics. Whilst Eulerian grid based methods are able to resolve and treat important dynamical instabilities, such as Kelvin-Helmholtz or Rayleigh-Taylor, these processes are poorly or not at all resolved by existing SPH techniques. We show that the reason for this is that SPH, at least in its standard implementation, introduces spurious pressure forces on particles in regions where there are steep density gradients. This results in a boundary gap of the size of the SPH smoothing kernel over which information is not transferred.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, to be submitted to MNRAS. For high-resolution figures, please see http://www-theorie.physik.unizh.ch/~agertz

Evaluation of the mechanical properties of bricks made with glass and plastic waste. Analysis of carbon dioxide emissions

El uso de desechos no biodegradables como el vidrio y el plástico en la industria de la construcción ha recibido atención significativa para un medio ambiente más limpio. Este trabajo presenta un estudio de las propiedades mecánicas de ladrillos que contienen agregados, vidrio y pellets de tereftalato de polietileno. Los ladrillos se fundieron  a 240 °C durante 3 horas y se enfriaron por convección natural. Los resultados mostraron que un aumento en el contenido de vidrio y agregados genera un incremento en la densidad, que es superior en las muestras con mayor contenido de agregados. La misma tendencia se observó en la resistencia a la compresión: la muestra con mayor contenido de agregados mostró una mejora del 243 % comparada con la referencia (preparada solo con plástico). Los resultados indicaron que las emisiones de dióxido de carbono disminuyeron alrededor del 30 % en las muestras preparadas, en comparación con los ladrillos tradicionales. Se espera que el uso de residuos de plástico y vidrio en la producción de ladrillos se convierta en una ruta para su valorización.The use of non-biodegradable waste such as glass and plastic in the construction industry has received significant attention for a cleaner environment. This work presents a study of bricks’; mechanical properties containing aggregates, glass, and polyethylene terephthalate pellets. The bricks were melted at a temperature up to 240 ° C for 3 hours and cooled by natural convection. The results showed that an increase in the content of glass and aggregates generates an increase in density, being higher in the samples with a higher aggregates content. The same trend was observed in compressive strength. The sample with the highest aggregates’; content showed an improvement of 243% compared to the reference (preparedonly with plastic). The results indicated that carbon dioxide emissions decreased by around 30% in the prepared samples, compared to traditional bricks. The use of plastic and glass waste in brick production is expected to become a recovery route

The Picard group of the moduli space of r-Spin Riemann surfaces

We have recently proved a homological stability theorem for moduli spaces of r-Spin Riemann surfaces, which in particular implies a Madsen--Weiss theorem for these moduli spaces. This allows us to effectively study their stable cohomology, and to compute their stable rational cohomology and their integral Picard groups. Using these methods we give a complete description of their integral Picard groups for genus at least 9 in terms of geometrically defined generators, and determine the relations between them.Comment: v2: Fixed some formulae and improved Theorem 1.1

Moving faster to circularity: listening to companies' experiences to reduce barriers

Report written for "Noord-Nederland verdient Circulair

Feasibility of large-scale deployment of multiple wearable sensors in Parkinson’s disease

Wearable devices can capture objective day-to-day data about Parkinson’s Disease (PD). This study aims to assess the feasibility of implementing wearable technology to collect data from multiple sensors during the daily lives of PD patients. The Parkinson@home study is an observational, two-cohort (North America, NAM; The Netherlands, NL) study. To recruit participants, different strategies were used between sites. Main enrolment criteria were self-reported diagnosis of PD, possession of a smartphone and age ≥18 years. Participants used the Fox Wearable Companion app on a smartwatch and smartphone for a minimum of 6 weeks (NAM) or 13 weeks (NL). Sensor-derived measures estimated information about movement. Additionally, medication intake and symptoms were collected via self-reports in the app. A total of 953 participants were included (NL: 304, NAM: 649). Enrolment rate was 88% in the NL (n = 304) and 51% (n = 649) in NAM. Overall, 84% (n = 805) of participants contributed sensor data. Participants were compliant for 68% (16.3 hours/participant/day) of the study period in NL and for 62% (14.8 hours/participant/day) in NAM. Daily accelerometer data collection decreased 23% in the NL after 13 weeks, and 27% in NAM after 6 weeks. Data contribution was not affected by demographics, clinical characteristics or attitude towards technology, but was by the platform usability score in the NL (χ2 (2) = 32.014, p<0.001), and self-reported depression in NAM (χ2(2) = 6.397, p = .04). The Parkinson@home study shows that it is feasible to collect objective data using multiple wearable sensors in PD during daily life in a large cohort

Convergent genetic and expression data implicate immunity in Alzheimer's disease

Background Late–onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) is heritable with 20 genes showing genome wide association in the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project (IGAP). To identify the biology underlying the disease we extended these genetic data in a pathway analysis. Methods The ALIGATOR and GSEA algorithms were used in the IGAP data to identify associated functional pathways and correlated gene expression networks in human brain. Results ALIGATOR identified an excess of curated biological pathways showing enrichment of association. Enriched areas of biology included the immune response (p = 3.27×10-12 after multiple testing correction for pathways), regulation of endocytosis (p = 1.31×10-11), cholesterol transport (p = 2.96 × 10-9) and proteasome-ubiquitin activity (p = 1.34×10-6). Correlated gene expression analysis identified four significant network modules, all related to the immune response (corrected p 0.002 – 0.05). Conclusions The immune response, regulation of endocytosis, cholesterol transport and protein ubiquitination represent prime targets for AD therapeutics